Moms for Liberty accused of ‘taking over’ school board to ban LGBTQ+ and inclusive books

Mums and dads in a US school district are fighting to take back control of a school board after members of a right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ group were appointed to the committee.

Parents in Bucks County, about 30 miles from Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, have organised against the appointment of committee members who have ties to the ultra-conservative Moms for Liberty.

The anti-LGBTQ+ organisation, formed in January 2021, was originally created in opposition to COVID-19 mask mandates but has since expanded to pushing anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theories and trying to censor lessons on LGBTQ+ rights, race and discrimination.

In response to the wave of school board takeovers by Moms for Liberty, a group of parents in the Pennridge School District have created a Facebook group, Ridge Network, to fight back.

Five committee members on the nine-strong school board currently have reported ties to Moms for Liberty.

According to Salon, Ridge Network have argued that the five members are eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and have begun a “censorship campaign” to remove Pride flags from classrooms.

“About two years ago now, I was hearing stuff about the school board and not really believing what was going on,” Laura Foster, a Pennridge graduate and parent, told Salon. “Then I started going to school board meetings. I’m like, what is going on here?”

Several of the network’s 1,400 Facebook group users have alleged that board members who have ties to the right-wing organisation are “throwing a lot [of change] at people, all at once to overwhelm them.”

The strategy was reportedly suggested by education consultant, Jordan Adams, at a Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia.

Adams’ consultation company, Vermilion, recently had a contract rewriting the school district’s social studies curriculum approved by a school board in the US.

Members of the Ridge Network have accused Moms for Liberty committee members of endangering LGBTQ+ students through recent policy decisions and warned fellow parents of the potential consequences of allowing the organisation to continue any stranglehold.

“I have a queer kid and she wasn’t treated so nicely at [a Pennridge school],” Foster continued. “The school counsellors’ hands were tied, in terms of responding, and it broke my heart.

“Ever since then, I’ll do whatever I can to show my daughter that I will stand up for her and other kids like her.”

As well as censoring a number of LGBTQ+ books, subjects and Pride-related paraphernalia, Moms for Liberty members across the US have tried to claim that Joe Biden and “woke” teachers are working to turn kids gay, which is impossible.

Darcy Schoening, a co-chairwoman for El Paso’s Moms for Liberty chapter, told CNN correspondent Elle Reeve that she believed asking a child their pronouns was “planting the seed” to turn them transgender.

PinkNews has contacted Moms for Liberty for comment.